A Little Less Talk
by moviebuff001
Summary: Kate and Sawyer learn that it's okay to trust someone
1. Just Starting

Title: A Little Less Talk

Author: Carla (moviebuff001)

Rating: T-For later chapters

Category: Skate, romance, angst

Summary: Kate and Sawyer learn trusting someone can be a good thing.

Kate knew it wasn't a good idea to be walking around in the jungle at night but she needed some space, away from everyone, just some time to herself. It had been a long, hard day. The tension from the new passengers was lessening up but Kate had gotten into a…altercation with Ana Lucia. Kate hadn't realized how much she'd missed over the last week by staying in the hatch taking care of Sawyer. Apparently Ana Lucia had taken Kate's place in the group and although Kate was strangely fine with, Ana Lucia had felt the need to exert her…dominance. It hadn't been much, just a few strongly put words.

_"You know what, if you want to be head of the tribe, go ahead," Kate finally said sarcastically, after being berated about not contributing enough to the camp. "But, what I do is my business and I'd like you to keep out of it."_

_Ana Lucia smirked at her, "You would say something like that."_

_Kate clamped her lips together and turned and walked away, the last thing she wanted was to make an enemy with someone like that. _

Kate walked for awhile but finding that it had quickly darkened she headed back. She was about half way to the beach, when she saw a light a little off the path, it looked like a fire. Picking up a large stick, Kate cautiously made her way through the brush, careful not to make any noise. As she got closer she could hear someone singing.

"…tried mess with my head but I didn't even listen to a word he said. I knew somewhere amid all this distraction…"

"Sawyer, what are you doing?"

"Was a little less talk and a lot more action."

Kate stood above Sawyer her hands on her hips, a smirk on her lips.

"Well, hey ya Freckles. Wanna pull up a chair," he grinned, motioning to the log beside him.

Kate frowned at him, "Sawyer what are you doing?" She repeated.

"I'm on lookout." He declared. "Thought I'd make a contribution to society." He grinned up at her.

Kate walked up closer to him, a questioning smile on her face. "Sawyer, are you drunk?"

He gave a low laugh, pulling a bottle of clear liquid from behind him. "How did Jack get off the island?"

Kate wasn't in the mood for any Jack bashing jokes, she sat down beside and frowned at him.

"Jack Sparrow! You didn't see that movie?" He handed her the rum bottle.

"Do you think it's a good idea to be getting drunk in the middle of the jungle, alone? Especially in your condition?" She took a sip, anyway.

Sawyer's face moved incredibly close to hers, "Well, I'm feeling a lot better thanks to a nice little nurse and I'm not alone now, am I?"

Kate decided to change the subject, taking a bigger draw from the bottle. "So what were you singing?"

Sawyer gave a little chuckle, thankfully too tipsy to be embarrassed. "I take it you're not a country girl."

Kate smiled at him, "You'd be surprised. Sing me some more."

Sawyer hadn't planned on drinking tonight, he wanted to keep it for a more 'special' occasion but he'd volunteered to be on watch tonight, one of Ana Lucia's new ideas. It was out of pure boredom that he'd done it and it was also out of pure boredom that he'd started drinking. He definitely hadn't expected Kate to show up and he couldn't help but be a little glad.

"I'm not that drunk yet." Kate couldn't help but smile.

"So you like country music and 'Pirates of the Caribbean', I'm seeing a whole new side of you Sawyer," She said sarcastically. "What's your favorite colour?"

He grinned at her, dammit if she didn't look good and he knew it wasn't the drink talking. The fire was casting her face in a light shadow but her eyes were shining brightly and her hair was down, framing her face.

"Blue. Yours?" He answered despite the sarcasm.

"Green." Kate hadn't missed the fact that it was also the colour of his eyes.

"Toby Keith."

Kate looked at him confused, "What?"

"The song I was singing, 'A Little Less Talk' by Toby Keith." Had she moved closer or did he?

"Wait, he's the one that sang 'Who's your Daddy' right?" Sawyer grinned. "I should have known."

"So now Miss Country Expert, what's your favorite song?"

Kate thought for a minute, then smiled. "'When You Say Nothing At All'."

Sawyer smiled, "I think I know that one." He stood up, putting his hand out to her. "Would you like to dance?" Yeah, he wasn't definitely drunk but he wasn't sure it was the rum.

Kate stood up, much to her surprise, without thought, taking his hand. She wasn't sure if she was tipsy or over tired because she couldn't figure out why she was having such a good time.

Sawyer pulled her up and put his hand on her back, holding her other hand up, in a standard two-step position. Consciously, he left room between him and her, not entirely trusting himself. And then he sang…

"It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart

Without saying a word you can light up the dark

Try as I may, I could never explain

What I hear when you don't say a thing"

Over the last week Kate had gotten closer to Sawyer than ever before. She'd slept on the top bunk every night watching over him, she fed him and even cut his hair. The fact was, that no matter how hard she'd tried to deny it, she wasn't spending time with him because she was concerned for his health. She was, but she was much more interested in spending time with him. He'd remained playful most of the time but there had been a few instances that had been fairly intense. Besides all that, as she heard him singing softly into her ear she couldn't deny how drawn she felt to him.

"The smile on the your face let's me know that you need me

There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me

A touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall

You say it best when you say nothing all"

Without noticing, he had pulled Kate closer to him, his singing barely audible, his lips graced her hair. What was it about dancing, sometimes it was so uncomfortable and other times it just felt so right. He'd danced a few with many girls but it had never felt this right. But nothing about Kate was the same as other women. He'd never had anyone take care of him the way she did or on the opposite end, drive him so crazy.

"All day long I can hear people talking about

But when you hold me near you drown out the crowd

Oh Mr, Webster could never define

What's being said between your heart and mine"

Kate leaned her head against his shoulder, closing what little space was left. His arms dropped to around her waist and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She could hear his heart beating loudly under his chest, nearly meeting hers in speed. She could feel his face getting lost in her hair, she wasn't sure when he had stopped singing and she didn't care. Ever since he'd been back, all she could think about was that kiss, how out of control it had made her feel. She hated that feeling, she was always in control, she needed that. But Sawyer brought out feelings in her that made her dizzy and she hated to admit that she liked it.

Despite how hard he tried, his breathing was becoming erratic, his hands sweaty, his brain flooded with memories of how it had felt when they had kissed, what seemed like only hours ago. Her scent, the feel of her body pressed against his, drove him crazy and he was never a man to deny his needs. But he didn't move, he didn't try to ravage her like some wild animal, he denied himself. He wasn't sure when he feel in love with her, it had just sort of happened. It shocked the hell out of him, he'd never experienced this sort of feeling before. It scared him, that was why he was drinking he realized and out in the middle of the jungle, he was trying to avoid her.

Kate didn't want to move, she wasn't sure that she wanted this to go any further but yet she didn't want it to go away. Slowly, she lifted her head, turning her face to his. His eyes seemed to mirror her arousal but he made no move to kiss her. His hand leisurely raised to her face, drawing a finger along its outline, moving from the top of her face to the bottom and then moving back up to her cheek. Whatever control Kate had over her breathing, was lost, as his finger inched closer to her lips. Finally, his thumb graced over her lips, as if needing to memorize every millimeter.

Sawyer's eyes, which had stayed locked on hers, dropped to her lips, before his head, slowly descended to hers. His lips touched hers ever so softly, in no rush this time, Kate's breath hitched.

"Kate," it was more of a moan than anything but nothing sounded sweeter to her ears.

Her patience and reserves spent, she crashed her lips to his, opening her mouth fully, needing to feel the way his tongue felt against hers. He replied with the same passion, his arms pulling her tightly to him, his mouth consuming hers.

He pulled them down to the jungle floor, pulling off Kate's shirt on the way. His lips moved to her neck, edging over the strap of her tank top, loving the feeling of her hair encircling him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get away from this woman, it was like she was a part of him, the part he always tried to hide.

He stopped what he was doing, bringing his face up to hers. He tucked her hair behind her ear and looked into her eyes and saw exactly what he wanted to see. He was about to move his lips back to hers, when they heard a crack.

"Not a nice night for a tousle in the jungle, kids," and then everything went black.


	2. Feeling Trapped

Notes: Thanks everyone for the reviews! So I'm thinking this will be about a 5 or 6 chapter story and I'm going to try to update every couple of days.

Disclaimer: Don't own lost, wish I did or more to the point, Sawyer.

"Sawyer, wake up."

Sawyer shook his head, forcing his eyes to open but the pain in his head shut them back up.

"Sawyer, wake up!" Kate yelled.

Sawyer dragged his eyes apart to find the most beautiful thing staring back at him. "Hey ya Freckles." Kate frowned at him and a second later he realized why. "What the hell?"

They were in a small room, the only light coming from a bulb above their heads. Kate had already inspected it, the walls were steel, the floor concrete and there was no door, only a small hatch in the ceiling.

Sawyer stood up, instantly his thoughts went to 'the others'. They had put them in here but for what?

"Lift me up," Kate motioned to the hatch, then remembering Sawyer's shoulder. "Um, just kneel down and I'll climb on your shoulder."

Sawyer smirked at her, "You know sweetheart, I can lift you. You're probably a hundred pounds soaking wet."

Kate glared at him, "You know if wasn't for you we wouldn't be in the situation." She knew as soon as the words came out that they weren't true.

Sawyer came dangerously close to her, staring her down, his voice low, "Excuse me but it wasn't like I was forcing you to do anything."

Kate clenched her lips closed and forced her self to take a deep breath. "This isn't doing us any good standing here arguing."

Sawyer knelt down giving her his knee to stand on, "I wasn't the one that brought it up," he said under his breath.

Kate ignored him and climbed up on his knee, then his good shoulder using the wall for balance.

"You are a monkey."

Kate pushed on the hatch put it didn't move, she tried again but it wasn't going anywhere. "Dammit." She jumped back down to the floor, "Now what."

Kate and Sawyer both searched the room over, looking for anything. Sawyer was about to give up when he saw Kate rush over to the corner. She was trying to pry open some sort of circular plate in the plate.

"How are you feeling?" Kate asked while she tried to open the plate.

"Sorry?"

Kate stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him, smiling. "You were drunk, weren't you?"

Sawyer suddenly remembered the night before, a smile almost crossing his lips. The way she felt against him, the kiss, it was better than the time before, for sure. It was actually better than _anytime_ before. "Naw, I can hold my liquor pretty good." He was pretty sure it wasn't the liquor that made him kiss her.

Kate had returned to her work, so she was able to hide the smile on her face. She definitely didn't want to think about how that kiss, how _he_ made her feel but she knew it was good. She was about to make some smart remark about his singing when a loud sound came over the room.

"What in the hell's that?"

Kate backed up to stand by Sawyer, searching the room. It was a chugging sound. Kate looked at Sawyer, who reflected her concern. Seconds later the small circular plate slide up into the wall and water came rushing into the room.

"Oh my god," Kate breathed.

They both lunged towards the pipe, trying to get the plate to come back down but it had disappeared. Kate started to undo Sawyer's shirt, knowing he still had problems doing it himself. Her eyes dared him to comment but he didn't, she then stuck it into the pipe. It held for a second but the force of the water pushed it away.

Kate stood up, hands on hips, trying desperately not to panic. The water was freezing and the small room was filling quickly. "One…two-"

"Freckles, what are ya doing?

Kate opened her eyes, to find Sawyer looking at her. His eyes were filled with fear, although he was trying his best to hide it. "I'm not sure how to get out of this," she tried not to let tears reach her eyes but they did anyways.

"Hey," Sawyer reached out and pulled her into his arms, even though he was probably more scared than her. "Whoever put us in here, can't mean to kill us. I'd be easier to just shoot us."

Kate looked up at him, smiling, "Maybe we're being put up for ransom, that's usually how these things work in the movies," she said jokingly.

Sawyer smiled back at her, holding her tighter to him, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. The freezing water had risen to their knees and Sawyer tried his best not to panic. The room was small, it wouldn't take long to fill. This was all his fault. Although he wouldn't admit, if he had been doing his job, they wouldn't be in this mess.

"Sawyer, this isn't your fault," she said, reading his mind. He raised his head up from hers to look her in the eyes. "You were right, there was two of us."

Sawyer raised his hand to her face and said something to her that he'd never said to anyone, "I'm sorry."

Kate couldn't stop the tears that came to her eyes, leaning her face into his hand. "Me too." She suddenly regretted all the time she had, had with him and not doing anything about it. She reflected back on the night after she'd seen the horse.

_"You need to get some sleep," Kate told Sawyer helping him back to bed._

_Sawyer laughed, "Have you looked in the mirror lately?"_

_Kate ignored him as she helped him out of his shirt and put him into bed. Obviously she knew she needed sleep but at the same time, she refused to take her eyes off Sawyer. She was afraid he'd go away again._

_"What you're not going to help me out of my pants?" He smiled coyly._

_Kate rolled her eyes and tried to hide a smile as she undid the belt buckle and pulled his jeans off, careful to keep her eyes on his chest and not his-_

_"Why don't you crawl in here, I'll help you sleep," there was a smile on his face but Kate could see his eyes were serious._

_Kate hated to admit that part of her wanted to, it would be so easy to just crawl in with him, just for one night but she was well aware that nothing like that was easy._

_"Get into bed Sawyer." She pulled the covers over him and moved to sit back into her chair._

_"I'll make you a deal," he said in all seriousness. "If you get some sleep, I'll stay in bed and when you wake up, I'll let you cut my hair." He smiled at the last part._

_Kate thought it over a second and climbed up to the top bunk. "Good-night Sawyer," she said flatly. _

_After a few seconds she heard him whisper, "Good-night Kate." _

Kate looked back up at Sawyer, who was trying to keep his teeth from chattering. "Sorry I got your shirt wet."

Sawyer waited a second then said, "Well, you should give me yours." In truth he was glad he'd lost his shirt, he much preferred feeling Kate against his naked chest. He could ignore his own discomfort but every time he felt her shiver sent pangs through him. The water was almost to her waist and all she was wearing was a flimsy tank top.

He had to get her out of here, no matter what happened to him.


	3. Leaning a Bit

Notes: I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Thanks for the reviews. Song "Come a little Closer" By Dierks Bentley. I realize Sawyer's arm would probably be in worse shape than depicted here but let's just use that fabulous suspension of belief!

Disclaimer: I don't own Lost, I only derive inspiration from it.

Sawyer did the only thing that came to mind. "Come a little closer baby, I feel like laying you down." Sawyer sang deep and quietly.

Kate brought her head up from Sawyer's chest, "What?"

Sawyer avoided her eyes, it was the first song that popped into his head. He pulled Kate back closer to him, as much for keeping her warm, as avoiding her eyes.

On a bed of sweet surrender

Where we can work all out.

There ain't nothing that love can't fix

Girl it's right here at our fingertips.

So come a little closer baby

I feel like laying you down

Kate had to admit, this was probably the last place she would have expected to hear him sing but then again, she'd never expected him to sing to her in the first place. It actually was calming her down a bit, distracting her from the dire situation surrounding them. That southern accent always, though she'd never admit it, had an affect on her, a more than pleasant one.

Come a little closer baby

I feel like letting go

Of everything that stands between us

And the love we used to know

I wanna touch you like a cleansing rain

Let it wash all the hurt away

So come a little closer baby

I feel like letting go

He felt the water rising around them, it was now up to her shoulders, he pulled her even closer, as if it would protect her from what was going on. He couldn't believe that he'd ever end up in a situation like this. The whole room filling with water thing was definitely new but so was caring about someone so much that he would have gladly given his own life to save hers. He definitely wasn't the same guy he was before or maybe he was…

If there's still a chance

Then take my hand

And we'll steal away

Off into the night

'Till we make things right

The sun's gonna rise on a better day

"Sawyer," there was fear in Kate's voice. The water had risen up to past her head, the only thing holding her head above water was him.

Best as she could, Kate's calm exterior was breaking away. The room was going to be completely full in maybe five more minutes. It didn't look like they were going to get out here but she started screaming anyway. Sawyer following behind.

"Help! Let us out of here." Over and over again they yelled but to no avail, no one was coming.

Kate closed her eyes, treading water now to stay afloat, willing the fear to go away. She stole a look at Sawyer, his eyes as desperate as hers but he seemed to be more concerned with her than himself.

"Kate," he breathed. It was the same way he'd said her name when she'd figured out who he really was, after he'd been stabbed in the jungle. Desperate, sad, so unlike Sawyer. It broke her heart. She couldn't help it, she started to cry. She'd never wanted someone that could read her every thought, who knew when she was lying or if she was hiding something. Sawyer did though and she realized she wanted all of that. She didn't want to hide who she was anymore. They'd wasted all that time and now they were going to die.

Sawyer pulled her to him, his hand rubbing the tears away. He looked her deep in the eyes, she knew what he was going to say before he said it. "Kate, I love you."

She moved in to kiss him but seconds before their lips touched, they heard the water stop and the hatch above them, open.

"Well, you two passed the first test."

A/N: Thanks for reading, please review. I wanted to put more flashbacks in but it seemed, as someone pointed out and I totally agree, to ruin the flow. Sorry this one was so short!


	4. The Joy of No Consequences

Author's Note: So a little smut here (very, very tame). May not really fit the storyline but come on, if you were alone with Sawyer, wouldn't you jump him? Don't lie, I know you would.

Disclaimer: I don't own Lost, even if I did, I'd be fired for trying to jump Josh Halloway.

Sawyer and Kate's eyes locked, surprise and terror filling them both. The man looking down at them didn't inspire any trust either. His face seemed to be covered by his beard, which was starting to grey. He had little beady eyes that he could barely manage to keep open.

"Best we get you two out of that water," he smiled jovially at them.

"Who the hell are you?" Sawyer sneered at the man.

The man ignored his question, giving his hand down to Kate, offering her hand up. Kate gave Sawyer a questioning look, not sure what to do.

"Listen, you can either come up here or you can freeze to death in that water. Doesn't seem to me like you have much of a choice."

Kate tentatively grabbed a hold of the man's hand and let him pull her up out of the room, never letting her eyes off the man. Next he pulled up Sawyer, with only some difficulty because of the arm.

"There you go, much better," he smiled at them warmly. He reminded Kate of some deranged Santa Claus, only this guy was much dirtier and had no shoes.

Sawyer immediately took the chance to punch the man but Santa was too fast and ducked, sending Sawyer to the floor. Kate immediately moved towards him but felt arms grab hers, holding her back.

"What do you want from us?" She screamed, struggling with the new captors.

Santa smiled at her again, "Why don't you follow me, you can have a shower, get warmed up, get some sleep. Sounds good to me, how about you?"

Kate glared at him, Sawyer tried to dive towards him again but two men grabbed him. They were shoved down the hallway, Santa leading. The hallway was made out of concrete, similar to the hatch but this smelled like it was rotting away. The walls and floor were damp with condensation and the string of lights leading down the hallway kept flickering off. Finally they came to a door, Santa stopped and smiled back at them.

"We'll let you two get comfortable and we'll see you in, how about, twenty-four hours. Give you plenty of time." This time his smile had a darker side.

They were shoved into the room, the door closing with a thud. Kate stayed quiet, silently searching the room, while Sawyer beat the door with obscenities. They were in a bedroom, it was almost as if they were in a hotel, minus the concrete walls and floor. There was a big bed in the centre, soft lighting and a white bathroom to the right. It was almost comfortable.

"Son of a bitch!"

Kate had to smile at that, he really didn't change. "Sawyer, calm down." He looked at her as if she was alien. "We have to take this one thing at a time," she said, a slow calm entering her thoughts. "First off, we need to warm up."

This Sawyer smirked at, "Well, I can think of few ways to do that…"

Kate rolled her eyes, pointing to the bathroom. They both walked in, Kate turning on the water for the shower. Sawyer, already shirtless, started to undue his belt.

"What are you doing?" Kate asked, partly shocked, partly not.

Sawyer stopped what he was doing, his face serious but his smile friendly. "Listen Freckles, I don't know how they do it in your end of the woods but we take our clothes _off_ before we get in the shower."

Kate kept her eyes on him, she hadn't forgotten what he'd told her only a few minutes before. In fact, besides their impending doom, that's all she thought of. It was clear to them, without anyone saying anything, that they had been kidnapped by the Others but as to what for, Kate couldn't guess. Just the idea of them though, sent chills down her spine. At that, her calm interior cracked, panic setting in.

Sawyer saw it instantly, though she hid it well. "Hey." He moved closer to her, his good arm up beside her on the wall, so he was right in front of her face. "One thing at a time, right?" Part of him couldn't care less what was going to happen to them, only a few minutes before he'd thought he'd lost her forever. Damn, he was going soft. He was singing, caring about a girl…next thing you know, he'd be off trying to save the whales or something. Despite that, all he wanted to do was take Kate into his arms and kiss her. This though, wasn't the right time for that. Hell, they had twenty-four hours.

"Sawyer…" There was fear in her eyes and he couldn't help but worry that he'd put it there. This was exactly why he'd never said those words before, they made him more vulnerable than ever before. He could tell she wanted to tell him something, something that was important and scary for her but he was afraid to find out what.

"Let's get in the shower first, then you can talk my ear off," he joked, trying to diffuse the situation.

He removed his jeans but left on his boxers and waited for her to get rid of her clothes. She paused for a second, she wasn't wearing a bra, a fact Sawyer had realized a long time ago. So, she left her tank top on but took off her pants and entered the shower without so much of a look at him. She did though, leave the door open for him. Not missing a beat, Sawyer joined her, closing the door behind him.

It wasn't a big shower by any means, so Kate only took a short shift under the water before switching so Sawyer could get under. As soon, as he'd moved under the water though, feeling the instant chill, Kate moved closer, leaving only a few sparse inches between them. Sawyer tentatively moved his hands up to her arms, pulling her under the water more. Kate tried her best to resist any physical impulses but all she wanted to do was jump this man.

She slowly brought her eyes up, to look at him. His eyes were closed, his head bent back into the water, the water cascading down his very tanned chest. She was losing it. They were about to be tortured, probably murdered and all she could think about was how hot Sawyer looked wet.

"Should I be charging admission?"

Kate was about to lower her eyes in embarrassment but realized she really wasn't all that embarrassed. "You could make some good money."

Sawyer slowly took his head out from under the water and looked down at her. She had an enormous smile on her face, although her eyes were filled with mischief. "I could say the same for you." He had to try very hard not to stare at her breasts under the wet tank top. Instead he focused on her face. He moved a piece of her hair behind her ear, just needing to touch her soft skin. He was trying hard to resist his…need but looking at her made it so damn hard. "Switch?"

Kate nodded her head, moving so she was under the water, though she was no longer cold. She wanted to say something about what he'd said but she knew he wouldn't want to talk about it and she wasn't sure she did either. It hadn't been long after Sawyer had gotten back that Kate had realized she was in love with him but with all that surrounded their relationship, she had vehemently denied to herself. All that stuff though, her father, Sawyer's betrayal of her trust, what he'd said to her before he'd left, all seemed to be irrelevant now.

"Sawyer, about before-"

Before she had a chance to say anything, Sawyer grabbed her close and kissed her. He couldn't hear whatever she was going to say. Whether it was that she didn't love him or that she did, if he knew, it would change everything. It was alright for him to love her because the only person that he could disappoint or hurt was himself. If she loved him though, then he couldn't guarantee that he would hurt her in some way.

The kiss was rough, just like the others but Kate knew there was something different about this one. She had been right, he hadn't wanted to talk about it. She wanted to tell him because in this situation, she could love him freely. Outside it would have been different, she would have still loved him but there would have been so many other issues.

Sawyer turned off the water and leaned his forehead against hers. "Don't tell me Kate, it'll only screw everything up. _I'll_ only screw it up."

Kate couldn't help from laughing, "You'll screw it up? I shot my ex-boyfriend." Sawyer looked up, his face not really surprised. "And anyways, we're probably not really going to get a chance to screw it up," her voice was sad.

Sawyer brought his hand up to her face again, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I love you, Kate."

Kate pressed her face into his hand and brought her arms around his neck. "I love you too, Sawyer."

This time when they kissed, there was no haste, it was soft and slow.

"It's James. My name's James."


	5. Maybe it's Only a Survey

Author Notes: I have gotten so many ideas about what my story is about that I've realized I may not have been very clear with my intentions. Opps! Think more The Other 48 Days episode, that'll give you an idea of what this is about.

Disclaimer: That was the haircut part! All I can say is you guys need me to come work for you…

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Their slow kiss was suddenly turning into a much more passionate one especially considering the lack of clothing. Sawyer slowly moved his hands from around Kate's waist to the bottom of her tank top, letting his hands explore the lines of her back, while Kate moved them out of the shower. He walked her backwards towards the bed, exploring and discovering the depths of her mouth, one hand moving up to her hair and getting lost in it.

Kate could feel her knees start to weaken as Sawyer moved his mouth to her neck, his stubble grazing her skin. She let out a soft moan as he touched his lips to the delicate spot behind her earlobe, her head involuntarily falling back. She ran her hands across his shoulders, loving the way his muscles felt under her hands.

Sawyer broke away for a second to remove the wet tank top, before gently laying her down on the bed. He was about to move his head down to enjoy her breasts when Kate suddenly stopped him.

"They're probably watching," she suddenly realized.

Sawyer moved back to what he was doing, "Fine by me."

Kate rolled out from under him, moving to the bathroom to grab a towel, "What is this, all this? What are they trying to get from us?"

Sawyer stood up, looking like someone had just stolen his hundred thousand dollar car. "Ah hell, Freckles, I really don't give a damn at this exact moment." He tried to move towards her but she ducked out of the way, "Son of a…goddamn it!"

Kate simply stared at him like he was a kid having a tantrum. She pulled a towel around herself and threw him one. "Sawy…James, whatever. Let's just get dried off and calm down so we can think this through clearly." She was starting to lose her patience.

Sawyer's mouth was gapped open, "Do we really have to think about this?" He was annoyed and dumfounded.

"Not…" Kate almost smiled. "…this. The kidnapping, you know, the Others…"

Sawyer stood up straighter, as if the light bulb had just gone on above his head. "Oh, yeah, that." Sawyer had always had a problem separating his brain from his dick. "Although I think we're screwed on both accounts."

Kate gave him a small smile and sat down on the bed, running her hands over her face. "What could they want us for?"

Sawyer sat next to her, "Well, we passed the first test, whatever the hell that means. Maybe they were checking to see if we could breathe under water," Sawyer said sarcastically, not being able to come up with a logical answer.

Kate sighed, she tried to recall all that she knew about The Others, although it wasn't much. "We know they were doing some kind of testing on this island, so maybe…"

"You're thinking of that video. You think The Others are members of the Dharma Institute?" Not long after he'd woken up, Kate had shown him the computer and the film strip. The whole thing gave Sawyer an uneasy edge, although it did somewhat explain the island a bit. "They're experimenting on us."

Kate lowered her head into her hands, it made sense, they'd taken Claire before, she had no idea what was done to her because…Kate inwardly cringed, they had erased Claire's memory. Would they do that to her and Sawyer? Did she want to forget ever thing that had happened after the crash? She stole a glance at Sawyer, no she did not. She didn't want to forget him.

"Okay, so what can they possibly be testing for? What happened right before they opened the door?" Kate thought for a second. The intensions of these strange beings were foreign to her, after all they seemed to kill barbarically, with no reason. Or at least Ethan had.

Kate suddenly noticed that Sawyer was awfully quiet, his eyes straight ahead, his lips tightly pressed together. Then she remembered, "You don't think that…since you said…what would they care, anyways?"

Sawyer ran a hand through his hair, still not looking at her. "Do ya ever think that we we're brought here…to this island? I've heard some of the folks say they think we're being punished…and you and me Freckles, best I figure, deserve some punishing…"

Kate stared at him a second, he had never told her all of what he'd done, though she knew they shared one definite thing in common. They'd both killed someone. He was right, as far as she knew, they were the only cold-blooded murderers.

Sawyer finally looked at her,"…though I think you've done enough punishing, yourself." He gave her a small smile. "Maybe they're just conducting a survey, wanting to see how we're fairin' on the island. "He gave her a quick kiss on the lips, wishing that were true. "Although I'm gonna have to kick someone's ass for putting this hole in my shoulder."

Kate smiled, "We should probably get some rest." She moved to the top of the bed and started to get in.

Sawyer hesitated, "I gotta be honest with ya. If you're thinking of sleeping next to me in nothing but a towel…well, let's just say I have only so much discipline."

Kate rolled her eyes and got into the bed anyways, "I didn't think you had any discipline at all," her eyes teased him but her smile was serious, perhaps now was not the best time.

Sawyer was really starting to regret getting kidnapped.


	6. Question Period

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long, school takes up some much time! Haha, what a good episode thought his week! Although I do have some mixed feelings about it…Did you see Sawyer kiss her on the head? WooHoo!

Disclaimer: I don't own Sawyer, Kate or Lost, I only pay homage to the great, almighty JJ Abrams.

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Sometime while they were asleep, someone had brought in food and fresh clothes, although calling them that was taking some liberties.

"Spared no expense," Sawyer muttered as he slipped on pants covered in dry mud and a t-shirt that had more holes than any of his island shirts combined. Kate's clothes held the same fate, although in his opinion, Kate made a paper bag look good.

"What?" Kate rolled her eyes when she looked at him, seeing his grin. "It's not like we're going to a beauty contest."

Sawyer kept on smiling, that is until his eyes looked at the food. "Great, my favorite. Gruel," He replied sarcastically.

Kate inspected the bowl with her spoon, "It's probably drugged." She put her bowl down and returned to the bed, curling her legs under her. "Sawyer…" He moved over to the bed, sitting beside her. "…I don't think these people are kidding around. I think we're in more trouble than we think."

Sawyer took a deep breath, he wanted to say something or do something, to make her feel better but he'd never been one to do that, never wanted to. Words weren't his thing. So he kissed her lightly on the forehead and wrapped his arms around her.

Moments later the cement door opened and in walked Santa, several men following behind him. "Time to go," the cheerfulness gone from his voice, replaced only with darkness.

Sawyer stood up first, his face serious, "What do you want with us?"

Santa didn't respond for a moment, as if he was pondering Kate and Sawyer. "We only want to ask you some questions." Then he motioned for the other men to come forward.

Sawyer instinctively stepped in front of Kate, "Let her go. You can do to me whatever you want," his face was dark but his eyes were pleading.

A slow grin slowly spread across Santa's face, "That's what I was hoping you'd say." He turned to the other men, "Put them in separate rooms."

As the men turned to reach for the couple, Sawyer quickly grabbed Kate and kissed her. Kate ran her hands over his face, willing herself to memorize his features, "Don't listen to anything they tell you."

With that they were torn away from each other, Kate was dragged out of the room and down the hallway, Santa following, leaving Sawyer alone with two men. Not soon after, another man appeared in the room.

"You and I seem to have unfinished business," the man said to Sawyer.

Sawyer only smirked at him, "Zeke, you got no idea."

Sawyer barely felt the large man's fist crashing into his face, before everything went dark.

Kate was lead into a dark room, with only a chair and a lone light bulb hanging from the ceiling. She was strapped into the chair, her arms uncomfortably tied behind the chair. After the men were done, they left the room, closing the door behind her, leaving her alone.

She quickly started to work against her binds, to no avail but it didn't stop her from trying. Feeling anxiety start to raise in her chest, she stopped and started counting, slowing her breathing. When she was done she started again, her muscles were more relaxed and the ropes loosed a bit. Closing her eyes she concentrated on the binds, trying not to get frustrated when it didn't work.

After a few minutes and no luck for Kate, a lanky man dressed in a white lab coat walked in, a clipboard in his hand. "Ms. Austin, how are you feeling?" Kate didn't answer him. "We have no intentions of harming you or Mr. Ford, as long as you cooperate."

Kate at first couldn't figure out who he was talking about, then it dawned on her that they were talking about Sawyer. James Ford. She almost smiled. "How do you know our names?"

The skinny man shifted his glasses, his eyes not leaving the clipboard. "We know all about you. Now if we could get back to the questions. Do you feel guilty for killing your father?"

Kate looked at him dumbfounded, first because she couldn't figure out how he knew that and secondly, what the hell kind of question was that?

The man was starting to get impatient with her, "Ms. Austin, answer the question."

"Screw you."

The clipboard slapped painfully across her face, causing her lip to get cut by her teeth.

Kate glared up at the man, "Maybe you didn't hear me correctly..."

The man ignored her and walked to the wall, Kate realized there was some kind of intercom. "She isn't cooperating."

Moments later, a man walked into the room, carrying some sort of electronic apparatus. He started to attach, what Kate thought were electrodes, all over her body and then handed the man in the white coat a box, before leaving the room.

"Answer."

Kate was scared but she couldn't answer him, she had no idea what kind of answer he wanted. She also wasn't sure she knew the answer to the question. If only she could get herself untied…

Seconds later she felt an immense pain surge through her body. And every time after he'd ask her, she'd feel it again. After awhile she couldn't even think, tears were running down her face but she felt nothing, she wasn't even sure she could talk even if she wanted to.

The man in the white coat suddenly stopped, taking off his glasses and rubbing his forehead. Then he looked up at her, smiling. Once again he walked over to the intercom, "Shoot him."

That, Kate heard loud and clear, "No!"

"Hold on," he said into the intercom. "Will you answer?" Kate could only nod her head. "Never mind," he said back into the intercom.

Tears ran down her face, "No. No, I don't feel guilty anymore."


	7. More Questions

Author's Note: Thanks for all the great reviews, it keeps me motivated to write!

Disclaimer: I don't own Lost, JJ Abrams and co. does.

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All he could feel was a consistent pounding inside his head, something that was starting to become all too familiar. He tried to raise a hand rub open his eyes but he found both tightly bound behind him.

"What the hell," he wasn't surprised, just irritated. He opened his eyes to a semi-dark room, a light hanging from the ceiling and Sawyer was strapped to a wooden chair. He almost laughed, this wasn't the first time he'd been in this position, in fact, some of those times had been pretty fun...

Just as Sawyer started to rock the chair back and forth, hoping to knock it to the floor and break it, a woman walked in. If you could even be sure she was a woman. Her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in years, Sawyer was sure he could even see leaves hidden in her wild woman hair. She was wearing a white lab coat but her clothes underneath were torn and dirty. Not to Sawyer's surprise, she had no shoes.

"Mr. Ford. You're going to answer some questions for me." Her voice was as cold and calculated, contradicting her appearance.

Sawyer smirked at her, ignoring the shock that she knew his name, "Or what, you gonna take my shoes?"

She was feisty though, he realized as she punched him square across the chin. Then stood back and returned her eyes to the clipboard she was holding.

"Do you feel guilty about the man you killed in Australia, the one you thought was Mr. Sawyer?"

Sawyer once again maintained his cool exterior while the surprise caused his heart rate to quicken. How could these people know about this stuff? Hadn't they been stuck on this island for the last…how long had they been here?

"Don't know what you're going on about."

The woman's face remained the same but before she could say anything more, a voice came through the wall, through an intercom.

"Shoot him"

The words barely finished before Sawyer found himself looking down the barrel of a gun. "Hey, what the hell!"

The man's voice came through again and the gun was lowered slowly, after he was done talking.

"We have ways of making you talk, Mr. Ford."

Sawyer tried not to grimace at the name, "Don't call me that," he said darkly.

The woman almost smiled, "I don't know why anyone would want to be called by the name of their parent's killer. So to speak anyway."

"Let me see Kate."

"Answer the question."

Sawyer gave her a fake smile, "If you let me see Kate, I'll answer the damn question, " he said through gritted teeth.

The woman tapped her pencil against her clipboard, thinking. "Fine."

Sawyer paused for a second, letting of a breath, "Yeah. I feel guilty about killing the guy, alright."

The woman knocked on the door and then turned back to him, "When you see her, you'll figure out what happens to people when they don't answer our questions."

Sawyer's face fell. What had they done?

A soft buzzing noise came out of the intercom in Kate's room. Without saying anything, the skinny man left the room. Kate tried to wait patiently, wondering what kind of sign the buzzing was but the reminder of the electrodes still attached to her body kept the majority of her attention. She needed to get out of this. After a few minutes the door opened again.

"Sawyer!"

Sawyer ignored the pain as he was pushed to the floor and the door was slammed shut behind. All of his attention was on Kate. He would have made some sort of smart-as remark but the sight of her rendered him speechless.

He stood up slowly and walked over to her, "What…" He took off the electrodes and ran his hand over her face. Her lip was cut and she had bruise on her cheek. Her eyes were red and swollen, he could tell she'd been crying. She looked drained and he didn't have to ask to know why. He started to untie her feet, "So you think you're tough, is that it?" He didn't dare to look at her, he was mad and she was the only one around to be mad at.

Kate let out a breath, ignoring his comment. "You're okay?"

He'd finished untying her and stood up in front of the chair. "Ya, I'm just dandy, Freckles. Godammit, what in the hell did you think you we're doin'?"

Kate tried to stand up but her legs gave out and she collapsed back into the chair, "Sawyer don't." Of all things right now, this, she did not have the energy for.

"I'm not planning on staying here and I'm definitely not planning on dying here. Do you think not answering their questions is gonna help us?" He knew he was being hypocritical but he couldn't stand the thought of what they might have done to her.

Kate tried again to stand up, she wasn't about to be chided by Sawyer sitting down. But she realized, the electrocution had drained all her energy. So she paused for a second, took a deep breath and tried again.

Sawyer saw what she was doing and huffed in frustration, moving back towards her to help her stand up, "Why do you have to be so stubborn."

He had to hold her up with both hands but she was standing, which was better than sitting. 'Small battles', she thought. "And I'm sure you just answered those questions right away." She rolled her eyes at him, she knew it was his way of worrying about her, he was just going about it completely wrong.

Sawyer lowered his head to hers, "You alright?"

Kate smiled back at him, "Yeah, you?"

Sawyer wrapped his arms around her tighter and whispered, "Now I am."

Sawyer moved them against the wall across from the door and brought them down to sit on the floor. He put his arm around Kate and she laid her head on his shoulder, both well aware their time was fairly limited.

"What did they ask you?" Kate finally inquired.

Sawyer took a minute to answer. There was no sense in keeping secrets now. "About the man I killed, if I felt guilty about it. What'd they ask you?"

Kate took a breath, "Sawyer, there's something I need to tell you-"

Her voice was cut off when the door opened, the two white-coated man and woman and Santa walking in. They had brought another chair.

Santa smiled at them, "Might be easier to do this with you both in the same room."

The two 'lab rats' placed the chairs close together, so they were facing each other. They secured them Kate and Sawyer into the chairs and attached electrodes to them. Kate stole a nervous glance at Sawyer. She had been searching her brain, trying to figure out what these people wanted from them but she couldn't figure it out. Was this just some sort of jungle game, they got tired of playing cards? Were they trying to pit Kate and Sawyer against each other or were they trying to get them together?

"How much do you know about us?" It was the woman talking, her voice uninterested, as if she didn't care what the answer was, just as long as they answered it.

Kate locked her eyes with Sawyer, she could tell he was thinking the same thing. "Hey Sawyer, why don't you take this one, you love to talk."

"No, no, you're the hero here. Go ahead." His voice sarcastic.

"Such a gentleman, what are you going to do next, steal my walle-"

Strong electrical currents surged through them both. Sawyer gritted his teeth, so he wouldn't scream and saw Kate doing the same.

"Who's the leader of your group?" This time it was the man asking.

Sawyer smiled up at him, forcing himself to ignore the pain, "Oh I'll take this one."

Kate grunted, her body may have been in pain but her words were strong, "You would."

Sawyer smirked, "Knew it, knew you loved him."

"At least I have a heart."

"Sweetcheeks, you don't need a heart when you're this good in bed-"

Once again the currents flooded through them, this time Kate wasn't able to hold out, she let out a pained scream."You couldn't satisfy a woman if you-"

Again and again, the electricity would send them both screaming but neither would give up, they just kept up their fighting. Finally Santa put up his hands.

"Enough."

Sawyer lay panting in the chair, barely sitting upright anymore but a smile was on his face, they'd won this round. He looked over at Kate. She was sitting in a similar position. He'd barely managed not to give in, if she hadn't been able to hurl the insults viciously, he would have asked for mercy, for her.

Kate smiled at Sawyer, whatever it was worth, they'd just won that battle.

Santa motioned to the other two people and they left the room, leaving him with a clipboard. "Do you trust each other?"

"Not as far as I can throw her."

"Not a bit."

Santa sighed, this wasn't going to be easy if they were going to keep this charade up. He pulled out his gun and handed it to Kate, untying one of her hands.

"You shoot him, I'll let you go. I'll even throw in some protection for the rest of your camp. All you have to do is shoot him."

Kate eyed him suspiciously as he pulled out another gun and handed it to Sawyer, untying his hand. "Same deal, though for you, I'm sure it's money that you'd like more. I'll arrange something.

With both their guns pointed at each other, worrying crossed Kate's face. Sawyer's was dark, intense, it scared her. But she knew there was nothing to be afraid of. He confirmed it, when he gave her a look, that look that said, 'I dare you.'

They aimed and shot their guns at the same time, at Santa.

The click of the empty guns sent Santa into near hysterics. "Well, I guess that confirms that. I guess I just don't understand. You have betrayed each other, lied, even cheated. Yet for some reason, you trust each other."

Kate averted her eyes on the last part and Sawyer caught it, he wasn't the only one.

"Guess you didn't know about that, did you James?" Sawyer ignored him, casting his eyes to the floor. "There you were lying, near death and she was off kissing that doctor."

Kate tried to fight the tears that reached her eyes but she failed. She couldn't tell what Sawyer was thinking, he wouldn't even look at her but she knew he felt betrayed. "It wasn't like that," she whispered. She didn't even wonder how Santa knew.

Glad with the reaction he was getting he continued, "And it's not like you haven't done anything to her. You were the one that betrayed her big secret to the rest of the camp Mr. Ford. And what was the reason you needed to be on that raft?" Sawyer finally lifted his eyes to Kate, guilt now across his face. "What was it?" Sawyer ignored the man, keeping his eyes on Kate's, whose were filled with tears. "There ain't anything on this island worth staying for."

Sawyer finally looked at the man, "Go to hell."

Santa just smiled back at him, "That's what you said, though right? How'd that make you feel, Kate?"

Kate shifted her eyes away from Sawyer, they had hurt her, those words. But she'd said a lot of things to him too.

"But, let's not forget who tried to get you kicked off the raft in the first place."

Sawyer had finally had enough, "Whatever's been said and been done, ain't none of your business." He looked to Kate, "What's done is done and it don't matter now."

Santa would have given up if his eye hadn't caught something on the page he was holding. "Mr. Ford, do you know who Wayne is?"

Kate eyes let go all the tears she was holding and they flowed freely down her face. She had wanted to tell him herself.

A/N: Just so you don't hate me too much, I'll give you a hint, these chapters we're moderately inspired by an episode of Firefly (Can't remember what it was called but it's the one where Mal and Wash get kidnapped) and "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" from X-Files. Was that long enough! JK


	8. Everything is Automatic

Disclaimer: Don't own them, which is good cause I might just kill off Sawyer (jk)

A/N: I am really sorry it's been such a long time. There was some personal stuff going on, plus I wasn't really motivated to write after I saw what an ass Sawyer was (I'm working on understanding, the writers just picked a REALLY bad time to make him bad!). Anyways, I have all week off school, so I'll hopefully be posting almost everyday till its done.

Kate eyes let go all the tears she was holding and they flowed freely down her face. She had wanted to tell him, herself.

"You best leave it alone, Hillbilly, "Sawyer glared up at the man.

Santa just laughed him off, "She told you that you reminded her of Wayne. But you don't know who Wayne is do you?"

Kate's eyes pleaded with Santa not to continue. Finally she caught his eye, a slow smile dancing across his face.

"Wayne was her father," he paused to let it sink in. "He's the reason she's a fugitive. She killed him." He knocked on the door and then looked directly at Kate. "Funny isn't it, Kate? No matter how hard you try, you'll never end up with anything good.

Two men came into the room, unhooked Sawyer and dragged him out of the room. He never even looked back at Kate. His face had gone back to being unreadable. She wanted to call after him but she couldn't think of anything to say.

Santa followed them out, without a look at Kate. What right did he have to judge her, she thought. She knew what these people were capable of. What she had done was nothing in comparison.

But what did Sawyer think?

Kate fell asleep after waiting for what seemed like hours for someone to come talk to her. She awoke when she heard the door open slowly, allowing in light from the hall, Kate's eyes immediately opened and she strained to see what was outside. At first she didn't see anything and then she heard a sound.

"Mr. Sawyer?"

Kate heart started pounding faster. That was Walt's voice, there was no mistaking it.

"What did…what happened?" His voice got softer towards the end, as if he was being taken away.

What she saw next she couldn't believe, Sawyer walked past the room, glancing in only for a second, a clear guilty look on his face. No one was holding him, no one was following him. Why didn't he come get her, if he'd escaped why didn't he take her? Before Kate could think about it for too long, Santa walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

He shook his head at her, a small pitying grin on his face, "You do have bad taste in men, Ms. Austin."

Kate eyed him suspiciously. What she'd just seen wasn't true it was just some sort of trick.

"It seems that he's decided to make a deal with us." He paused for a second, almost looking sorry for her, "Unfortunately it's at your expense."

Kate rolled her eyes, smiling, "Do you think I'm an idiot? Do you think I'd believe you?"

"I guess trusting people turned out to be a bad thing for you."

Kate's rationality tried to argue against him but she couldn't. Truthfully, she knew Sawyer, she knew his instincts. She also knew her history, she'd never been able to trust anyone before, what made now any different?

A/N: I know this is short but I wanted to get something out. I promise to write more tomorrow.


	9. Grey

Disclaimer:

Several hours earlier…

Sawyer was thrown back into his cell and into the chair. Not soon after, his interrogator walked in.

"I am getting damn tired of being shoved around, manipulated and then shoved around some more. Do you people have a point or are ya simply just bored?"

The woman stared at Sawyer, then wrote something down on her clipboard, like his behavior was part of the experiment. "Would you like to leave, Mr. Ford?"

Sawyer stared at her for second, trying to decide if it was a joke or not. "Yeah, I'd like that very much. Obviously I'm not a big fan of being kidnapped!" Sawyer growled sarcastically. He hadn't quite figured out her deal yet but he was working on it.

The woman untied his restraints, then stood back from him. "You're free to go."

Sawyer stared at her like she had sprouted a second head.

"Except you'll be the only one leaving. You leave, we keep your friend." She turned and walked out the door, leaving it fully open.

Sawyer curtailed his instinct to flee, why would they make it so easy for him? Did they only really need one of them? We'll he'd just go find Kate, couldn't be that hard to get them both out of there.

Sawyer was just about to stand up when he realized that wasn't a possibility. There was no way they'd let them both walk out of there, especially after all the trouble they had gone to. He had two choices and none of them involved getting Kate out of here.

Kate was still struggling with what to believe when Santa walked back into the room.

"Listen, I feel for you, that guy, Sawyer, he isn't a good person." Santa looked around and then lowered his voice, "We had a reason for bringing you two here, specifically. We judged you and Sawyer to be the worst of the island. Sure, there are others that have killed, tortured, done some pretty terrible things. But see you…" he pointed at her, smiling a little, "…and this was before I knew you personally, you and James Ford were bad. Right to the core. I don't know, maybe with some people it's just…genetic, instinctual.

"I can see in you though, that you want to be a good person, you want to change." He pulled something out of his pocket, "But Sawyer, well, he just proved that he doesn't care about anybody but himself." He undid the ropes around her wrists and placed a small gun in her hands. "I know what you want more than anything. We can get you off this island, the police will never be the wiser."

Kate's eyes had been stuck on the gun but she finally dragged her eyes up to his. "What about everyone else?"

Santa grinned, "See, I knew you were a good person. When and if, rescue comes, that's when we'll get you away. You just wonder off to the jungle, everyone else will be fine."

Kate nodded, she was sure there still some catch to this but he was right, it was the only thing she wanted, she needed.

"One catch. Like I said, that Sawyer is no good, in fact he's probably a danger to the rest of your crowd."

"You want me to kill him."

"Not like you haven't done it before and besides, you'd be doing everyone, including himself, a favour."

Kate shoved the gun back at him, "I'm not a murderer."

Santa stood up, not taking the gun. "That, my dear, is something you'll always be." He walked out of the room, leaving the door open behind him.

"So, you're still here."

Sawyer glared up at his torturer, "Yeah, I'm still here."

"Did you get lost?"

Sawyer smiled sarcastically, "Funny."

The woman smiled at him, "Well it's too late anyways. Your friend made your decision for you."

Sawyer eyed her suspiciously, "Are you playing more games with me, Crazy?"

"We view you as equals, so we gave her the same deal. Except she was smart and took it. Probably half way back to your camp by now."

Sawyer cocked his head to the side, "Do you really think I'm going to fall for your stupid bullshit?"

The woman just grinned back at him, "I'm surprised at you, you even knew her background, you knew her better than anyone. Yet you still trusted that she wouldn't run. We're all creatures of habit Mr. Ford, there's no denying it."

Sawyer tried to ignore the incessant nagging in his brain, telling him 'I told you so.' Would she really do that, Sawyer thought on it a minute. Damn, he was a stupid man. Of course she would, that was what Kate did. She ran.

"I'll tell you what," she moved closer to him. "I think we're done here. You can go."

Sawyer started to leave but she grabbed his hand. It had to be his imagination but Wild Woman was starting to look a lot like his mother. She pulled her hair back and Sawyer could swear his was looking into the face of his mother.

She placed something in his hand, "She makes you weak James, since she came into your life, everything has become so much harder." Sawyer looked down to see he was holding a gun. "Take your revenge James."

Sawyer felt tears burn his eyes, this wasn't his mother, rationally he knew that. But there was no denying it now, she looked exactly like her.

She raised her hand to his cheek, "Go."

Sawyer took one last look at her before turning and leaving the room.

Still holding the gun.


	10. Trust

Disclaimer: Don't own them…

Kate had followed the small hallway down to a door opening outside. She was surprised to find no other doors on her way out, she'd intended to at least look for Walt but it appeared she had little choice.

She was surprised to find that when she exited the door, she was standing by a waterfall. Their waterfall. When she turned back around, the door was gone, replaced by an unbroken rock face. Kate put the gun into the back of her pants and sat down on a nearby stone.

"Miss me, Freckles?"

Kate head shot up to see Sawyer standing in the same place she'd been just moments before. Instinctively she moved her hand to her gun but when she saw he was unarmed, she resisted the temptation.

"What, you came back to get me?" Her sarcasm barely hid her bitterness.

Sawyer shook his head, "Thought you'd be long gone by now, back to Jackass and the rest of the camp."

Kate stood up and walked dangerously close to him. "Don't tell me you actually felt guilty."

Sawyer closed the distance between them and stared her down. "Only thing I got to be guilty about, is trusting you."

Kate tried to move her hand to her back slowly but Sawyer caught her and within seconds they were both facing each others guns.

"Damn you Sawyer," Kate tried to keep the hurt out of her voice. "I wanted to trust you, why the hell did you have to screw everything up."

Sawyer threw his hand in the air in frustration, "What the hell did I do? This wasn't my fault."

As Kate stared down the gun barrel at Sawyer, she suddenly realized, no matter what was promised to her, she wasn't sure she could do it. It wasn't just the fact that she didn't want anymore blood on her hands. She loved him. Even though he'd betrayed her, she still loved him. She felt tears well up in her eyes and her hand holding the gun, started to shake.

Sawyer saw the tears, saw the anguish. What right did she have to be upset? She was the one that hurt him. Sawyer shut his eyes for second. She was the only one that was able to hurt him. He'd spent his entire life making sure nobody got close. To the point of hurting others so they wouldn't get close. And godammit, he could even understand it, he had wanted her out of their. He would have gladly given them whatever they wanted so she could be let go. How could he be mad? She had done exactly what he wanted.

The big problem was, for Sawyer, that that woman, whoever she was, was right. Kate made him weak, left him open.

"You're trouble, Freckles." He wanted to tell her that life had been better without her but not he could believe that.

Kate tried to ignore whatever he was saying, generally it just made things worse. Why couldn't she have just fallen for Jack, things would have been so easy. They never would be standing across at gunpoint from each other. He would never have her constantly wondering whether he was going to hurt her. But was that even true?

Sawyer huffed disgustedly at himself and reluctantly threw his gun into the pool of water beside him. He walked closer to Kate, his eyes dangerous. "Do it. Finish it, Kate."

Tears poured down her face, he was standing so close, she could smell him, the sweat and blood. Finally, she decided, she wasn't going to kill someone else she loved and lowered the gun.

"I can't, " she whispered. "Even though I know you'll hurt me again, I can't." She threw the gun in the water too and tried to walk away, retain some of her dignity but he grabbed her arm.

His voice was barely above a whisper, he didn't even hide his pain, "What did I do to hurt you?"

Kate tried to keep back the tears but they burst out, despite her protest. "You left me there."

Sawyer scrunched his face in thought, "What are you taking about, you left first."

Kate's tears cleared and she looked up at him in conclusion. "I saw you, you walked past my room. You looked in and kept walking."

Sawyer finally dropped her arm, "Kate, I never walked past your cell when I left. They told me you left first."

Kate scoffed at him, "I wouldn't just leave you there."

Sawyer took a step back, putting his hands up in defense, "I didn't either."

"Did they send you out here to kill me, too?"

Sawyer moved back closer to her, finally understanding. "They said you were bad for me." Sawyer looked back at where the door had been, "There is some messed up shit going on."

Kate almost smiled, "So all that, all this, they just wanted us to get rid of each other? I think we should get out of here before they come after us." Kate started off towards camp.

"Kate?"

Kate turned and walked back towards Sawyer. Without any hesitance, he grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss. She relaxed instantly, wrapping her arms around his neck, returning his kiss with equal passion.

"Do I still remind you of your father?" His voice was filled with mischief.

Kate grabbed his face and kissed him. After a few minutes, she broke the kiss, a huge smile on her face, "No."

Sawyer grabbed her hand and they walked into the jungle together, completely unaware of the man and woman standing in the trees near the entrance to the waterfall, listening to their conversation.

"You know you're going to have to check that ego if you think relationships going to go anywhere," Kate said, the smile still on her face.

Sawyer looked down on her innocently as they walked deeper into the jungle, "What ego?"

The woman touched the man beside her, on the arm, "I told you."

The man smiled back at her, "I guess even bad people can learn to trust."

"Were they really bad, though? I think they were just a little lost. Nice job on making it look like he walked past her cell. You're getting good."

Santa smiled as they walked back in the opposite direction of the survivor's camp. "You got his mother down pat. You know if we keep working on this stuff, we could take this show to Vegas."

"We'd have to get off this damn island first."

The End

A/N: Okay, so it's done! Thanks to everyone for all the great reviews and everything!


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